Its a movie I could have easily missed - it has classic ingredients for cinematic ‘art-film’ repulsion. The DVD cover has a child star in a south Indian dance pose, from which we can easily construct the story… "a poor girl from a disadvantaged background (lower cast and/or no father 6 sisters) follows her dream…taking dance classes […]

Aamir Khan must have a guts of steel to have made such a risky film for his debut as a director. Taare Zameen Par, a film about Children, but NOT a children’s film (from his blog). The subject matter is borderline documentary, but almost well woven into a film. Why almost? Read on…
In the first […]

Martin Scorsese’s short based on a lost Hitchcock project ‘The Key to Reserva’

More info about the project here

A simple cut can change the story - as illustrated by the master of suspense himself. This editing type is known as ‘Kuleshov Effect’ after a Russian filmmaker who experimented with editing in the early 1920’s.

Paramount Pictures announced that it will release Transformers only in HD-DVD format, and not Sony’s Blu-Ray format. Thats when Micheal Bay e-x-p-l-o-d-e-d, with flames flying thro his nose, he declared that he will not direct the Transformer’s sequel, in a forum post in his personal website.

"I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For […]

Here is a powerful little short film, it won the ‘Bronze Lion’ at Cannes. A real eye opener - wow!

A short interview with the actor-director Gajraj Rao

The first feature-length film has debuted on YouTube, watch the cult fav indie movie Four Eyed Monster (2005) right inside the browser:

Here is an interesting interview with the makers of this movie.

This is the original short which Director Jared Hess used to attract investors for his 2004 smash hit Indie movie Napolean Dynamite. After receiving great response in Slamdance 2003, lot of people loved it enough to invest $400,000 to fund his 22 day shoot in Idaho. The investors went on to make 100 times their […]

Creator of LittleMissSunshine:
Creative Screenwriting has an excellent interview with Michael Arndt, the first time screenwriter who sold his screenplay for a measly $250K, who is now up for an Oscar Nomination.

My initial reactions of the movie

Creator of ‘Children of Men’:
Some excellent insights into the art of filmmaking from this mexican director, better known for his […]

No No… Sooraj Barjatya didn’t copy Bubble so… what does the title mean?
—-
First let me explain what ‘Bubble’ is:
Bubble is a Steven Soderbergh movie which broke the standard industry release window. Release window is the time when the movie is shown in theaters to the time it gets released in home video market. It […]

Alaas… Gautam Menon seems to have taken the shortcut like AG Murugadoss. His latest film ‘Pachai Kili Muthucharam‘ seems to be an(other) adapation of the book “Derailed”. Hollywood has already made this movie with Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston ‘Derailed (2005)’ and burnt its finger (meaning it was a massive flop).
My initial thought was “What a […]

“The Onyx Project” is a lowbuget interactive movie releasing today on DVD. It seems like a media experiment from a Design School.
From NYT: “One idea behind the venture is that no two viewers may see the movie unfold in the same way, yet its basic facts, characters and message will permeate the experience.”
It doesnt play in […]

 
iStockPhoto which was everymans cheap $1 photostock agency, is now launching iStockVideo, and paying $35-$50 for every 30 second HD clip. You can shoot a 30 sec clip using ur fancy cameraphone or a HD cam and get paid (assuming its of good quality)
They pay:
Small (320×240) = $5
Medium (640×480) = $10
Large (720×486) = $20
HD 720 (1280×720) = $35
HD 1080 […]

Participated in the Seattle 48hour Film Festival. We made a short called “Folded”. The genre we picked was “Drama”. We have 3 items which we need to include in the short.

Prop: One Sleeping Bag
Character: Bonnie the Insurance Agent
Dialogue: “Prompt…I expect you to be prompt..prompt and courteous”

It was great fun to shoot - and made a […]

Séance is a age old tradition of communicating with the dead sprits through a medium. New Jersey based filmmaker Arun has taken this as a subject for his short film “Seance“. So when a young man tries to unravel his future by consulting a Seance practitioner, he gets more than he bargained for. The story […]

  
An Italian Director has completed a full 90 min movie using his cellphone. Amazingly no post production work done to the footage to cleanup the aliasing or to bump up the resolution.
Shot with a Nokia 90 in the MPEG-4 codec with a miniscule budget of mere $1000+, this movie is an assimilation of interviews about love and eroticism […]

Finally! Its coming home next week…

HD100 when it was released last Oct - ran into rough waters with its split-screen issues and lack of 60P (for reality look & slowmo). Now it has updated its lineup to offer 2 more cameras based on HD100 design. The left column is the old camera, and the 2 right columns represent the 2 […]

RED camera has finally announced its price - $17,500. This is a true 4k resolution camera (equivalent of Super 35mm film camera).
The price includes a Super-35mm sensor (the CMOS CCD), S35mm PL lens mount (popular film lens mount), LCD, HD-SDI output (4:2:2 capability), dual HD-SDI outputs (4:4:4: capability), battery and charger. HD-SDI is the digital […]

Waterborne, an Indie movie released on Google Video for $3.99, has been declared as a hit. The director Ben Reki, is an American Desi, and his interview appeared on rediff a last month. It revolves around a bio terrorist attack on LA, with Ajay Naidu (the neurotic software guy in OfficeSpace) in lead.
I haven’t watched it yet […]